The invention pertains generally to expert information systems and methods which assist humans on making decisions, and is more particularly directed to an expert information system for decision makers in the construction, manufacturing, or similar industries who generate records of their decisions. The invention also specifically relates to method and apparatus for assisting other decision makers who use information from such decision records as a basis for their actions.
An architectural specification, or decision record, is a detailed set of correlated data and information for the various groups of personnel who perform construction work on a project as a result of the decisions made in the specification. These decision records are generally written by hand by an architect or specifier, i.e., a decision maker, as a description of the materials and construction techniques necessary to complete a construction of other project. Such specifications must be coordinated with others, usually on the staff of an architect, to generate multiple sets of information and coordinating directives for the various groups of people involved in construction a project. Such information and coordinating directives go to contractors, suppliers, subcontractors, etc.
The handwriting of a specification, or decision record, is extremely tedious and time-consuming because an architectural specification may run over a thousand pages for a large construction project. Further, during the planning and preparation of the construction drawings there may be changes to the decisions made where, as a consequence of these changes, modifications to the construction techniques and material descriptions need to be distributed to all persons involved in the work. It is quite difficult to insure that all modifications to the drawings are commensurately accounted for in the decision record and all necessary personnel are notified appropriately when the changes are handwritten.
Systems have been suggested which use a computer to assist in the preparation of architectural specifications. However, none of these previous systems have enjoyed any wide spread commercial acceptance. One of the disadvantages found in many of the present computer assisted systems is that the information from which an architectural specification is generated is simply a codification of the language used in handwritten specifications which are then compiled in paragraph form. Thus, a specifier or decision maker must locate a paragraph that conveys the exact meaning desired and then select it for inclusion in a specification. Such systems quickly become unwieldy because of the extremely large information data base required to convey the various nuances and difference meanings required for each decision in an architectural specification. Further, these previous systems are not easily adapted to incorporate new products, changes in present construction techniques, or modifications of the original architectural specification.
Moreover, the previous computerized systems do not provide a technique for reminding a decision maker that significant omissions from standard practice in a particular subject matter or category have been made. Neither can they insure that all the options which should be considered have been thought of by a decision maker. These systems, therefore, have no check on whether omissions, either by not realizing a possible option is available or by not making a decision on a option commonly used, have been made in the decision making process which can be detrimental to a construction project.
A substantial amount of the time used in decision making, particularly for architectural specification writing, is consumed in research. During the choosing of the selected construction materials and techniques, a decision maker may have to refer to reference manuals on national construction standards, other manuals on product advertisements and descriptions, and other materials about the selection of individual or groups of nonproduct decisions. The previous attempts at computerizing construction decision making have not significantly impacted or reduced this research time which is a major contributor to the cost and difficulty of generating these documents.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,370,707 issued to Phillips et al. discloses a computer system for generating architectural specifications and project control instructions. In general, a specifier uses brief symbolic characters representative of individual phrases from a master phrase catalog to mark decisions and phrase selections in a code on a printed order form. The information in the master phrase catalog includes construction materials, techniques, titles of references, testing, and industry standards which are correlated with instructional information and work assignments for various groups of people for a construction project. The code on the order form is keypunched onto paper cards and is then fed into a computer which is programmed to prepare a listing of the codes and to prepare an architectural specification from a group of specification data files.
Other expert systems are being used today to assist people in making decisions by using relational data bases. In many of instances, these systems merely allow a comparison of the decision making judgement of a person against an expert who has contributed his expertise to the data base. However, expert systems have not been used effectively to ensure that substantially all options of the decision making process have been reviewed.
Because of the cost and time consumed in decision making for large construction projects, it would be advantageous for a decision maker generating and documenting an architectural specification to be able to query and check his decisions against known expertise which has already proven to be successful, and to have a system which allows him to review substantially all of the available options of the selection process.